Pilot a spaceship and collect plasma balls and fire them into a sun in this intergalactic action puzzler. Use your thrust, planetary orbits, gravity, and other space physics as you collect all the plasma, just watch out for solar flares and blazing heat! Solar Flux is available on PC and mobile devices, and is now a downloadable title for the Nintendo Switch, which is the version reviewed here.

First you’ll fire your spacecraft from the mothership, and use the L stick to point where you need to go and the button to turn on your thrusters. It’s kind of like how you control older arcade games like Asteroids or Gravitar. Use the R stick to aim and the R shoulder button to fire any plasma balls you’ve collected into the sun. Once all the plasma balls are collected and fired into the sun (or suns), the level is completed. But it’s not that easy!

The first thing you have to watch out for is your fuel. When you use your thrusters, you’ll deplete your supply of gas. Run out and you’ll have to start the level over again. Save fuel by catching a ride on a planet’s gravitational orbit. When you fire plasma into the sun, it’ll send out a solar flare, which can give you a nudge, which is another way to save on fuel. But don’t stay in the sun too long! If you do, your shields will deplete, and if you run out, you’ll explode and have to start over. But when you are in the shade of a planet, your shields will refill, so planets are definitely your friends. If all this sounds complicated, don’t worry! The game’s tutorial levels do a great job of explaining every aspect of the game to you.

If you can finish a level without using too much fuel or shield power, and can beat it quickly, you’ll get stars. But it’s really hard to get more than one star per level! And that’s really the game’s biggest problem. Only a dozen levels in and the game just gets downright brutal! Plus the action feels a little slow sometimes. But if you enjoy classics like Asteroids, Gravitar, Solar Jetman, or even Star Trigon, and love a challenge, then this game may be for you.

Kid Factor:

Other than your spaceship exploding when it hits a planet or runs out of juice, there’s not really much violence in this game. Reading skill is helpful for some of the text, but not necessary just to play. Younger gamers may get frustrated at the high difficulty, though. Solar Flux is rated E for Everyone.